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Uptown Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

November 5, 2009


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2009-11-05

A scene to celebrate

The Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards keep getting bigger and better - and Manitoba's Aboriginal music community keeps getting stronger

Melissa Martin

Tracy Bone has her dress ready, her guitar tuned and her voice warmed up.

Now, she's ready to once again take the stage at the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards, the musical cherry on the top of the Manito Ahbee Festival and Aboriginal Music Week, which has been running since Tuesday

Not that Bone is any stranger to the four-year-old awards show, which hands out 25 awards based solely on fan votes. In the APCMA's inaugural year, Bone earned five nominations and has been in the thick of the action ever since.

"You think, every year, that they can't do better than this. Then every year they seem to do that," the singer/songwriter says.

How so? The entrances get more creative. The comedic skits that punctuate the awards show - which is televised nationally on APTN - get slicker. And then there's the onstage talent which this year includes Bone, country heroes Charlie Major and George Canyon, and the inimitable Buffy Sainte Marie.

For Bone, who grew up on Keeseekoowenin First Nation, the growth of the awards show (34,978 votes were cast this year from fans in 42 countries, an increase of 117% from 2008) speaks to a rapidly evolving community of Aboriginal artists in Manitoba and across the country.

The scene is still tight-knit - on Thursday and Friday night, Bone and fiancé (and fellow singer/songwriter) J.C. Campbell are throwing a party at the Regal Beagle pub which aims to raise funds for artists who are travelling to Winnipeg for the week - but fresh new performers are starting to make their voices heard.

"When we have awards, it creates a whole big support network," says Bone, whose album No Lies was nominated for a 2009 Juno for best Aboriginal album. "What makes me so excited is that a lot of young artists are starting to ask questions. I see them out seeking the things they need to get to where they want to be."

Even before the awards show, there's another party. While the APCMAs cap the Manito Ahbee Festival, a new and separate music festival was launched this year to complement the whole package. Aboriginal Music Week, which is organized separately from Manito Ahbee and the APCMAs, kicked off on Tuesday and runs through Saturday night.

Though previous Manito Ahbee years had featured a club circuit music festival, the new AMW will see performers such as Crystal Shawanda and Digging Roots performing at venues such as the West End Cultural Centre and the Pantages Playhouse Theatre.

Except for a Friday-night, post-awards shindig at Blush Ultraclub on Portage Avenue, every venue is family-friendly and features earlier concerts.

"We want to see more families, more Aboriginal youth. The goal is to develop Aboriginal youth as an audience that we can continue to serve for the next 10 or 20 years," says Alan Greyeyes of the Aboriginal Music host committee. "That would make it a success."

But the festival isn't just about new audiences; it also highlights new performers. Among the emerging stars slated to perform during AMW is soulful singer iskWé, otherwise known as Winnipeg native Meghan Meisters.

Although Meisters grew up in Wolseley, she's making an extra-long trip to perform several showcases at AMW, including a free Friday noon-hour concert at Portage Place. In 2007, Meisters moved from Toronto, where she was working as an advocate for youth justice programs, to Los Angeles to pursue her music career.

Now, Meisters splits her time between L.A. and New York, where she's been making inroads into the competitive U.S. music scene. Her debut full-length album is due out in March of 2010.
"(New York) has all the things I love about Winnipeg, times a billion," laughs the singer, who is part Cree and Dene.

There are some key differences, of course. "The vast majority of people in L.A. don't realize Indians still exist in the U.S., or if they do, they think they live on reservations where everyone is happy," she sighs.

"It's mind-boggling how little people know. I'm not striving for fame. But I do want to be public enough that I can bring light to so many of the issues that are still going on."

For more information, including event dates and ticket information, visit AboriginalPeoplesChoice.com, www.AboriginalMusic.ca, or www.ManitoAhbee.com.

MANITO AHBEE/ABORIGINAL MUSIC WEEK SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

THURS., NOV. 5

Joey Stylez . noon, Portage Place

Rising Stars Concert . 7 p.m., Pantages Playhouse - Feat. The Bastard Fairies, Evan Reeve, Ghostkeeper, Cris Derksen,

Jasmine Netsena, Darrelyne Bickel, Sonia Eidse, DJ Madeskimo, Blair Goudie, Lakota Jonez

FRI., NOV. 6

isKwé . noon, Portage Place

Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards . 8-10 pm, MTS Centre . Hosted by Lorne Cardinal; red carpet 6 pm

Joey Stylez, Bitterly Divine . 9 pm, Blush Ultraclub

SAT., NOV. 7

Quetzal Guerrero . noon, Portage Place

Indigenous Marketplace & Trade Show . noon-11 pm, MTS Centre

International Competition Powwow . noon-11 pm, MTS Centre; Grand Entry, noon & 7 pm

Digging Roots, The Bastard Fairies . 7 pm, Martial Caron Theatre, College universitaire de Saint Boniface

Métis Soiree . 8:30 pm, West Gym, College universitaire de Saint Boniface - Feat. Émilie Chartier, Brad Moggie, Scott
Cornelius, Jane Corey, Réal Comeault, Kelsey McLennon, Véeronique Demers, Taylor Fleming, Jason Appleyard, René Jobin,
Kaitlyn Obedzinski, Melissa St. Godard, Michael Audette

SUN., NOV. 8

Indigenous Marketplace & Trade Show . noon-11 pm, MTS Centre

International Competition Powwow . noon-11 pm, MTS Centre; Grand Entry, noon

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